Riley's Sides
by SapphireBlueLuvsU
Summary: This is a story about someone named Riley and their own sides. Riley woke up one morning thinking all was as usual... Until it wasn't.


The minute Riley opened their eyes, they knew something was off. They didn't know what it was exactly that was making their muscles tense up, but they felt… Different. They couldn't think straight.

After a few moments of silence, Riley realized something: All they could hear was the sound of their own inhaling and exhaling as their chest rose and fell. There were no birds chirping and no scratching of a squirrel's claws as it scampered up a tree, no wind blowing through the open window, no cars going by, no airplanes… It was as if the world was holding its breath.

Then, suddenly, it exhaled. Loudly.

"For goodness sake, Lev," A voice sighed. "When Reese told everyone not to breath, he didn't mean it literally."

" How do you know, Flint?" Someone else asked, obviously miffed. "You can't read my mind."

"Maybe he can…" Another voice contradicted in alow, quiet tone. "Maybe he knows all your deep dark secrets. What are you hiding from us, Reese?"

"Why don't you go back to your panic attack, Beckett?" Reese sniffed, thoroughly annoyed.

"Why don't you go step on a lego?" Beckett retorted without missing a beat.

"Woah, woah woah! Let's not be mean here guys." Warned a slightly higher pitched voice.

"Lower your voice, Lev." Flint murmured. "You'll wake Riley."

Riley, already wide awake, was speechless. They knew exactly who these people were, but they had no idea how the heck the group was standing around, arguing, in their bedroom. They tried to stay as still as possible so as not to alert the people conversing in front of them.

'Maybe this is all a dream and if I fall back asleep, it'll all go awa-'

"Too late," Flint tilted his head as he commented. "They're conscious."

"Really?" Lev asked incredulously, eyes wide. "How can you tell?"

Flint pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "They've been way too stiff and their breathing isn't even or deep anymore."

"Wow!" Lev exclaimed, admiration evident in his expression. "You're so smart, Flint!"

The spectacled one smiled, barely, and nodded his appreciation. "I am the intelligent side."

"Yeah," Reese jumped in. "He can't help being a nerd."  
"Guys!" Beckett broke up the others' conversation. "We still have a massive problem to deal with."

"This isn't a problem!" Lev sounded hurt. "This is awesome! We can finally hang out with Riley!"

Beckett glared at Lev, quieting him instantly.

After a tense silence, everyone turned simultaneously to stare at Riley who was now sitting up and throwing the blankets off of them.

As soon as they noticed the gazes on them, Riley froze and offered a weak, confused grin. "H-Hey… What's up?"

"Riley!" Lev cried catapulting himself at the bewildered figure on the bed and wrapping them up in a huge hug.

Patting the excited side warmly on the back, Riley looked over Lev's shoulder at the others. They just couldn't believe this was happening. In front of them stood Reese, their Passion, Flint, their Intellect, Beckett, who represented their BPD and Anxiety, and on top of them was their Humor.

"We're so happy to meet you in person!" Lev gushed, eyes bright and sparkling. "I can finally hug you!"

"Yeah…" Riley enunciated slowly, drawing the word out.

"Isn't this fantastic?" Reese grinned in a triumphant way, his hands on his hips.

"No." Beckett argued from his seat on the carpet. His legs were crossed and he looked more relaxed than he probably felt. "Er, no offense. It's cool to see you, Riley but like… This is a nightmare. Riley needs us with them." Beckett pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his face in his knees.

"C'mon, Beck." Passion murmured softly, his tone sympathetic and caring. "Don't be like that."

"Shut up, Reese." Came Beckett's muffled voice. "You can't tell me what to do. Everything about this sucks and you can't convince me otherwise. Plus I left my headphones in my room."

It was really quiet for a moment until they all heard Beckett sniff.

"They need us with them." BPD restated, his throat catching.

Flint's brows furrowed, his fingers steepling as he lost himself in his thoughts. He was pondering BPD's last statement.

'Riley needs us with them.' Beckett had said… But what if they didn't? The intellectual side turned to scrutinize Riley, an uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling in his chest.

"What if they don't need us?"

Everyone turned to stare at Lev, who was staring at his lap and fidgeting nervously as if it pained him to get the words past his lips.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"W-What?" Reese demanded, anger bubbling within him.

Lev's voice grew softer. "What if Riley doesn't need us?" he repeated hesitantly. "Think about it. We're all out here and they're functioning normally."

Dread blossomed in Riley's heart and spread through them rapidly. "That's not true! I do need you guys!"

But no one was listening. All the sides were busy reacting to Humor's words.

Reese sunk to the ground, eyes flat in disbelief. "No, no, no." his hands trembled as he spoke. It wasn't all for nothing, was it? It can't be!"

His eyes watered, blurring his vision. "It wasn't all for nothing…" he whispered, bringing his knees up to his chin just as Beckett had done. He let his head fall so the others wouldn't be able to see the wetness on his cheeks.

Riley looked over at Passion, a peculiar pulsating sensation in their heart, their eyes dulling slightly and their eyelids drooping giving them a bored expression. They felt as if something was missing, but couldn't understand what.

Lev studied Riley's suddenly slouched posture and put a hand on their shoulder, warmth and concern in his gaze. "You okay?" he asked quietly, calmingly.

"Yeah." Was Riley's response. They didn't want to say otherwise and risk alarming the others or worsen the situation.

"Okay…" Humor didn't sound very convinced, but didn't push them. "If you need anything, just holler."

Riley nodded and didn't reply.

Lev patted them on the shoulder and rose from his seated position on their bed, walking over to Reese so he could comfort him.

"Don't waste your time on me." Reese sniffed as he heard Lev approach him.

Lev said nothing, but held his ground. Reese may not want to talk, but he needed a friend and Humor was going to be that person.

Meanwhile, Flint was doing his best to keep it together. Though he had been the first to think it, hearing it spoken out loud, and from Humor no less, was something different all together.

He tapped his fingers, one after the other, anxiously, his mind reeling with the possibility that his hard work and effort would all be, as Passion had stated, "for nothing".

'I shouldn't even be feeling this way!' Flint's brain shouted at him. 'You're malfunctioning! You're spiraling because you shouldn't be spiraling! This is a catch-twenty two! You can never escape!

His hands began to sweat as his heartbeat accelerated rapidly and a feeling of nausea rose in his throat. He couldn't think, couldn't speak couldn't breathe, couldn't-

"Flint?"

Intelligence looked up into the dark eyes of BPD, his lips parting as if to speak but no sound came.

"You okay?" Beckett asked, his tone soft. He recognized the signs of an anxiety attack in his friend and had run to Flint's side to help him through it.

Flint cleared his throat weakly, finding his voice. "Just fine, thank you. I appreciate your concern."

Beckett narrowed his eyes. "Do I look stupid to you?"

Flint hyperventilated at his words,"What? No! I just-"

"Then stop lying to me! This is BPD and Anxiety you're talking to. I'm the cause of Riley's frustration on a daily basis! I know my sh*t. Now, are you going to spill your guts to me, or is this a giant waste of my time?"

Intelligence quieted, staring intently at Beckett, partly in fear, partly in relief. "I don't think that's how confiding works…"

"Oh?" the darker clad side responded sarcastically.

"Are you supposed to force the other person to quote 'spill their guts'?"

They leered at each other for a tense moment until laughter made its way through Beckett's guard before he could stop it.

All the sudden, Flint was laughing with him and the two were in stitches, clutching their sides as their eyes watered with happy tears.

"I was having a small panic attack, that's all." Intelligence sighed, calming his racing heart. "I feel much better now. Thanks to you that is…"

Beckett stared Flint down for a minute before conceding. "No problem. Let me know if I can help you with anything else like that in the future, okay?"

The spectacled side nodded his head gravely, meeting BPD's gaze head on.

From the other side of the room, Reese glanced up from his stupor to watch them, the corners of his mouth pulling themselves upwards against his will. He wiped the wet from his face and put his hand on Lev's which rested casually on his shoulder.

"Thanks for being here, Lev." Passion murmured softly, his cheeks flaming from the blow to his ego. Thanking people had always been hard for Reese and doing so caused him serious embarrassment, but Humor deserved it. Anyone else might not have stayed with him but Lev had and the passionate side was extremely appreciative.

"That's what friends are for." Lev gave a slight smile and tightened his grip on Passion's shoulder for a moment before releasing completely.

Riley, who had been watching this scene play out for several minutes, stood and walked over to the group, plopping themself down on the floor, crossing their legs.

"So," they began once everyone noticed their presence. "How are we going to get you all back inside my head?"

The room was silent again.

"I don't think we can ask that question yet." Flint spoke, adjusting his glasses. "We still haven't come up with a solution to our present dilemma. What if you don't need us?"

"Oh yeah…" Riley muttered. They looked around at all of their sides and grinned. "Well, I might be able to answer that. So can all of you."

Beckett narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? We've been sitting here and having existential crises and now you're spewing all of this 'the answer has been with you all along' nonsense?"

"Yes?"

After a long pause, BPD smirked. "Get on it then. Tell us what we aren't seeing."

"Well…" They began hesitantly. "I know for a fact that Reese has given up."  
All eyes turned simultaneously to stare at Passion.

"W-What?" his face conveyed an emotion that could only be described as defensive panic as he crossed his arms. "No! And what does that have to do with anything?!"

Everyone shifted their gazes back to Riley.

"When you put your head down, I felt my passion and will dissipating. It kinda faded a little. Lev even noticed and asked if I was okay."

"You said you were!" Lev accused lightly.

Riley bit their lip. "I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't want everyone to freak out. There was enough going on.

Humor nodded his understanding, but didn't look very pleased.

"I'm still not seeing a connection here." Beckett frowned, unconsciously mimicking Passion's guarded position.

"I am." Flint answered, a lint of hope in his eye.

"Of course…" BPD muttered, grinning slightly.

"What I think Riley is trying to say, if they felt Reese quote 'fade' then, obviously, we are all still connected to them." Intelligence adjusted his glasses and spun abruptly to face Lev. "You said earlier that Riley was functioning normally even though we are all out here. Perhaps that's because we still have a link to them. The question is, however, why we are even here in the first place… and how do we return?"

To Be Continued...

* * *

So, this is a story based on the tumblr page ask-villegas-sides. If you enjoy Sander Sides, you should really check it out. Their own sides Reese, Beckett, Flint, and Lev are really cute :) And you should follow Riley as well at eat-moar-veggis. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave suggestions on how I can improve my writing! I'm always looking for advice. Have a great day!

-Blue


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